After a hiatus of several years, I find myself thinking seriously once again about free and open source software (FOSS). Not that I ever fully stopped. One way or another FOSS worked its way into my daily software use, deployment choices, and broader considerations of community. Still, it’s nice to focus once again specifically on FOSS communities, especially those relevant to the work of librarians.
Whether it is the integrated library system (ILS) or the digital repository, search facilities or servers, end-user terminals or integration with the virtual learning environment (VLE), a library of almost any size these days will engage with and potentially find its technical staff participating in the onward development of FOSS. So I was both honoured and intimidated to be asked to participate on a panel at the Ontario Library and Information Technology Association (OLITA) conference, Digital Odyssey 2014: Code, the Most Important Language in the World. I’ll be part of the panel discussion entitled “Open Source Software Projects and Communities.”
The best part of this so far is that for the past month I’ve been turning my mind once again to the character of FOSS communities. It is a rich topic for debate, strongly held opinion, principled (and unprincipled) disagreement, and hope. I always find that I get more positive and enthusiastic about the possibilities for all of us, everywhere, when I think about FOSS communities. I love the very idea of using a legal instrument such as a copyright licence to facilitate social change. I love that even those who abjure the social engineering aspect behind some FOSS licences, who embrace instead the open development methodologies touted by many open source enthusiasts, end up promulgating social change in any case. Even the notion that communal development can be driven through a meritocratic hierarchy is exhilarating. It’s just so much fun thinking about FOSS communities.
The hardest part is going to be constraining my contribution to the panel to a mere fifteen minutes canvassing a variety of different types of FOSS communities that these librarians might encounter. Fortunately I’ve had a bit of experience with those communities, though admittedly that was a few years ago. Exploring various FOSS communities today I find much remains the same, but I also see a significant increase in the professionalism of and care towards community development. For example, it is great to see that Evergreen, the ILS used by a number of Ontario universities, is now part of the Software Freedom Conservancy. And so many projects have people now with community development as part of their job title or job description. I hardly think a mere enthusiast like me is going to have much to say to librarians who are already undoubtedly fully FOSS engaged. Or at least that’s what I assume when I see so much good work being done.
In any case, I’m looking forward to seeing some old friends at this event and to making some new ones. And glad to be thinking about FOSS once again.